Conference part of permit application for new storage and distribution facility for propane and butane

A proposed liquefied petroleum gas facility near Seneca Lake will be the focus Thursday of a formal issues conference in Horseheads.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation scheduled the conference for 10 a.m. Thursday and, if necessary, Friday at the Horseheads Holiday Inn Express, 2666 Corning Road.

Only those who were registered by a Jan. 16 deadline will be permitted to speak during the conference that is being held in connection with a permit application by Crestwood Midstream Partners.

The Houston-based company wants to build and operate a new underground facility for the storage and distribution of propane and butane in salt caverns on a portion of its 576-acre site in the Town of Reading.

The objective of the conference is to determine whether there are significant and substantive points of dispute that would require an adjudicatory hearing to litigate the disputed issues.

The DEC said it will not grant a permit for the project unless it can be demonstrated that the permit is in compliance with all legal requirements and that the proposed activity can be done safely.

According to the DEC, an issues conference is used to:

•Narrow or resolve disputed issues of fact.

•Hear arguments about whether disputed issues of fact should be adjudicated at a hearing.

•Determine whether legal issues exist that are not fact-dependent.

•Decide any pending motions.

In a related development, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave conditional approval on Sept. 30 to Crestwood's plans to expand the storage of methane gas in the salt caverns. A civil disobedience campaign, We Are Seneca Lake, soon followed.

To date, more than 200 protesters against the methane gas expansion have been arrested at the gates of the Crestwood facility that is about 2 miles north of Watkins Glen.

Another group, Gas Free Seneca, had been fighting both the methane and LPG storage issues but is currently focused on LPG.

Among a number of concerns of project opponents is a fear of an explosion due to cavern leaks that they say would be far more devastating than a gas refueling truck explosion outside a Mexico City hospital in January.

But according to a certified professional geologist hired on behalf of the company, LPG can be stored successfully at the site without leakage to the environment and without catastrophic failure of caverns or wells.